Release date, casting rumors, and more.
Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens is officially one of the biggest movies of all time. But as is written in the book of Enormous Film Franchises, the question now is, "What next?"
Related Star Wars: The Force Awakens, news, and more
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is Episode VIII, the highly anticipated follow-up to The Force Awakens. According to a video LucasFilm put out (above), the movie officially started production on February 15, 2016.
But news about Episode VIII is coming out in fits and starts, thanks to some combination of Lucasfilm's aversion to spoilers and the project still being in the earlier stages of development.
But here's what we know about it so far.
(This post will be updated as more news comes in.)
Episode VIII will be released on December 15, 2017
If you're a Star Wars obsessive, you may notice that this December 2017 release date is seven months after The Last Jedi was originally supposed to come out.
The delay, which was announced on January 20, 2016, doesn't necessarily mean the movie is behind schedule. It could just be an attempt to recapture the holiday box office to the same jaw-dropping effect The Force Awakens achieved in 2015. It's also made room for the sixth(!) Pirates of the Caribbean movie, which will slide into The Last Jedi's original slot and premiere May 26, 2017.
In the meantime, Rogue One, a standalone movie about Rebel pilots stealing plans for the Death Star, was released on December 16, 2016. Rogue One is set right before the events of Episode IV – A New Hope; the main mission features the "Rebel spies" referenced in that first iconic scroll.
There's also a Han Solo prequel project floating around the galaxy, from directors Christopher Miller and Phil Lord (The Lego Movie, 21 Jump Street). Hail Caesar! breakout star Alden Ehrenreich is playing young Han, Donald Glover will be young Lando Calrissian, and Game of Thrones's Emilia Clarke will be ... someone important, probably. Stay tuned!
No matter what, putting a full year between Star Wars movies could help ensure that each will do its box office best while staving off potential audience fatigue.
Writer and director Rian Johnson is taking over for J.J. Abrams
Rian Johnson is best known for writing and directing such movies as thriller Looper, high school noir Brick, and quirky family story The Brothers Bloom. Now he is stepping into the Star Wars-verse to follow up the literal biggest movie of all time. (Colin Trevorrow, director of Jurassic World and Safety Not Guaranteed, is set to direct Episode IX.)
Abrams and the Star Wars cast have done their due diligence in assuring us that the franchise is in good hands with Johnson. Daisy Ridley (Rey), who's read the script, says it's "very good." According to actor and Abrams's longtime friend Greg Grunberg (who was in Force Awakens and other Abrams projects like Alias), Abrams apparently loves Johnson's script so much that he almost regrets giving up the director's chair. "He read it and said something he never, ever says," Grunberg told the Washington Post in December 2015.
The Post continued: "Grunberg said that Abrams called the Episode VIII script 'so good' that he wished he had written it." Abrams will remain involved in the franchise as an executive producer.
Related Star Wars: The Force Awakens — let's try and solve the movie's biggest mystery
Johnson was finishing rewrites on The Last Jedi script as The Force Awakens delivered its first cut. "I showed Rian an early cut of the movie," Abrams told Wired in November 2015, "because I knew he was doing his rewrite and prepping." In the same interview, Abrams also confirmed that while Johnson's story is his own, they talked throughout filming about how The Force Awakens would affect The Last Jedi — and Johnson even asked for some details to be included in Force Awakens to give more context to his own script.
While we don't know many details about the actual plot, Johnson's résumé and reputation hint that The Last Jedi will not be a typical blockbuster. "Rian Johnson is a friend of mine," longtime Star Wars writer Lawrence Kasdan told the LA Times in December 2015. "He's going to make some weird thing. If you've seen Rian's work, you know it's not going be like anything that's ever been in Star Wars."
We don't know what The Last Jedi means, but there is at least some educated speculation
Honestly, there's not a way to know for sure until the movie itself is released. But Star Wars being Star Wars, there have been enough hints along the way that we can at least take some educated guesses.
There's a very good chance The Last Jedi refers to Luke Skywalker himself, especially since the opening scroll for Force Awakens refers to Luke as — wait for it — "the last Jedi." But Jedi can be plural, and The Force Awakens ends with Rey (Daisy Ridley) handing Luke his old lightsaber in the hopes of getting trained as a Jedi, so maybe it refers to them both. Or maybe it refers to a whole tier of Jedi we haven't even met yet.
Again: It's hard to say. But assuming that Luke has something to do with it is probably a safe bet.
Odds are good there will be more Luke Skywalker than there was in Force Awakens
To be fair, this won't be hard to achieve, since — spoiler alert — Luke only appeared in the last two minutes of The Force Awakens. But the Irish Examiner confirmed in September 2015 that filming for The Last Jedi was already underway on the island of Skellig Michael, and that Mark Hamill was there.
In all likelihood, Luke will be training Rey in the ways of the Force. And as seen in this April 2016 video, Ridley has been training offscreen for more lightsaber battles, too.
The Last Jedi will be "darker" than The Force Awakens
According to The Force Awakens star John Boyega (who plays Finn), The Last Jedi will be "much darker" than its predecessor.
That's as much as he gave British Vogue in early 2016, but it's enough to set the speculative wheels spinning. For those who feel that The Force Awakens is essentially a remake of A New Hope, the promise of a darker second chapter certainly points to The Last Jedi following in the footsteps of The Empire Strikes Back.
Related The 7 best Star Wars conspiracy theories
Carrie Fisher completed filming before her death.
According to those involved in the production of The Last Jedi, Carrie Fisher had finished filming all her scenes, so General Leia Organa's storyline will be complete. (Also, Fisher's daughter Billie Lourd — who appeared briefly in The Force Awakens as Lieutenant Connix — has a bit of an expanded role in The Last Jedi.)
The question now is what will happen with Episode IX, in which Leia was apparently due for a larger storyline.
Benicio Del Toro has joined the cast, likely as a new villain
Though rumors of Benicio Del Toro's casting stretch back as far as July 2015, there still isn't any concrete information about what kind of character he might be playing.
The thought is that he will be a new villain, but the actor himself has given contradictory statements confirming and denying both possibilities. After telling Spanish radio station RAC1 that he was "like the villain," he then backtracked a little with Entertainment Tonight. "I don't know if he's a villain," Del Toro told ET. "People are saying that, but it's like they read a different script than I read."
Stay tuned for updates on this mysterious character.
Also in The Last Jedi cast: Laura Dern
With the February 15 news that The Last Jedi production had officially started came another piece of unexpected, but completely welcome, news: Laura Dern (Jurassic Park, Enlightened) will be joining the cast. There are no details yet about her character, but having Dern onscreen in a Star Wars movie is exciting enough all on its own.
Also due for more screen time: Gwendoline Christie's Captain Phasma
One of the more disappointing aspects of The Force Awakens was that the charismatic Gwendoline Christie only got a couple of brief scenes as Captain Phasma, the terrifying leader of the Stormtroopers. But Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy has confirmed that Christie will have more to do in The Last Jedi. ""She's an important character," Kennedy told the LA Times in December 2015, "a baddie in the best sense of the word."
Finn's part will include "more physical" scenes
In January 2016, when speaking about his preparations for Episode VIII, Boyega let a detail slip: "My part in the next film will be much more physical so I might be in the gym a bit more."
Okay, so that isn't much of a reveal. But hey, for now we've got to take what we can get.
We’ve hit peak lens flare. Here’s how it started.